Joe Willock and Jacob Murphy were the main takeaways from Newcastle's first pre-season outing. In a behind-closed-doors friendly at the KNOX training centre, Newcastle used two entirely different XIs, one in each half, and beat Darlington 3-0. Willock and Murphy were heavily involved in the opening goal, while Sean Neave added the third after William Osula had already scored from the spot.
Willock and Murphy set the tone
Murphy's cross from the right picked out Joe Willock for the opener, and Willock later won the penalty that Osula converted. That is the sort of pre-season involvement Newcastle will like to see from two players who have both been linked with summer exits, even if nothing is confirmed on that front. Willock's recent five-match Premier League average rating of 6.62 sits ahead of Murphy's 6.48, a neat sign that both finished the league season in decent shape before this first run-out.
Osula's own recent five-match average of 7.3 was the strongest of the three, and he backed that up by scoring from the spot. Newcastle will not read too much into a friendly against Darlington, but the involvement of Willock and Murphy in the opening two goals gives Eddie Howe a decent early look at players who may end up defining some of the summer noise around the squad.
Neave's loan case got a boost
Sean Neave scored the third to complete the 3-0 win, and the goal matters for a different reason. The 19-year-old has already made debuts in the Champions League and Premier League, but his senior exposure is still tiny, with just two tracked senior appearances and only 3 minutes in his Champions League cameo. He is keen for a loan move this summer, and the finish at the KNOX training centre will only help that case.
For Newcastle, the first pre-season game did what these games are supposed to do. It gave minutes to the squad, a goal to Osula, and a sharper look at Willock, Murphy and Neave before the schedule gets more serious.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
